CHAPTER FOUR : seeing red, red, red

( holly, jolly, part ii / the body, part i)

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november 9, 1983

EDDIE SUGGESTS A WALK, a proposition that catches Allison completely off guard because, in the week she's lived with the boy, he's never even expressed an interest in leaving Forest Hills. He goes to school only because he knows Wayne will rain down hellfire if he skips, and he's gone shopping for groceries exactly once, but besides that, he stays within the confines of the trailer park.

Sure, maybe he's only hanging around here because he doesn't want to leave Allison unattended, and he can't bring her around his friends without the inevitable, "So, how do you know each other?" Allison's long considered that possibility, and if that's the case, she'll feel bad for keeping him isolated for so long.

But, here he is, suggesting heading out of the safety of the trailer's four walls for a nighttime walk.

Going to school is one thing, Allison thinks. She's hiding from the Lab in plain sight. Nobody will expect her — uneducated, unsocialised her — to go headfirst into the throes of high school. And even if they did, they can't barge in to get her. Not with all these innocent teenagers around, not with innocent middle schoolers a stone's throw away.

And, they can't get into the Munson trailer without a warrant. At least, that's what a very confused Eddie had said when she'd asked.

Although hesitant, slightly worried that the second she steps off private property she'll be scooped up by Papa and his men, she accepts. It's chilly that night, not that Allison really feels it, but it gives her an excuse to cover her cropped red hair with a dark beanie and wrap a scarf around her neck, covering the lower part of her jaw.

Eddie says that he knows a spot not too far away — only about ten minutes on foot, barely a whole kilometre. Sattler Quarry, he calls it. An old, open-pit mine no longer used after some flood turned it into a lake of sorts. It's got beautiful views from the top, especially as the sun begins to dip below the horizon.

     Allison never pegged Eddie as the type to sit and admire the beauty of nature.

     The pair walk on the side of the road, chatting idly about this and that ( "did you see that stunt jason pulled in the quad?" "who's jason?" ), until they're only a couple of minutes away from their destination. Eddie can see the entrance, the spot where the road turns to ramp so that nobody has to lug gear up and down a million steps. It's peaceful out here, too. When he and Allison aren't talking, there's just the sounds of the wind rustling through the trees to their left, their footsteps on gravel and bark-covered concrete, the occasional chatter from televisions inside the houses they pass spilling into the outside.

     And then the sirens start.

     A flurry of emergency vehicles — cop cars, ambulances, even a fire engine — whip around a corner and fly past the teenagers. They're stopped still in their tracks, just for a moment, before they follow. Like it's a compulsion.

     The vehicles go down into the quarry, so Eddie and Allison stay firmly above — Eddie leads Allison to one of the few lookout points above the thing where they can peer down.

     And it's hard to make out exactly what's happening from all the way up there. There's movement in the water, close to the shore. People pulling something out and placing it into a little rubber dinghy. The dinghy being pulled to dry land, where a group of men stand and watch.

     In perfect unison, they realise what they're seeing.

     "Shit. That's a body," Eddie mumbles, voice quiet. Numb.

     Allison manages a nod. "It's small," she says.

     Eddie swallows the lump that's formed in his throat, his jaw clenched and nostrils flared. "Probably the Byers kid," he says solemnly. "We should go. Now."

     The girl couldn't agree more.

     It's not like Allison hasn't seen dead children before. She's seen more than anybody ever should have to. But she's not desensitised to the sight — how could she be?

     But the bodies she'd seen before were broken, bloody, contorted into impossible positions, killed on purpose. Not this.

     Never this.

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november 10, 1983

     It's already afternoon when Allison wakes. The shock had well and truly settled in by the time she and Eddie had arrived home, after a slow walk in the chilly night air. It hadn't taken much time at all for them to fall asleep — Eddie in his bed, Allison on the couch ( at her own insistence ).

     Though haunted by nightmares, both about what she'd just seen and what she'd witnessed all those years ago in the Lab, Allison doesn't stir for anything. Not when Wayne gets home at six in the morning, not when Eddie stumbles through to the bathroom and then the kitchen an hour later, not even when Eddie accidentally slams the door to the trailer as he leaves for school.

     Neither Munson man had the heart ( or the energy ) to wake her up, so Wayne decided, on Allison's behalf, that today could be a day off.

     And Allison wants to be upset that she's missing out on school, she really does, but she still feels exhausted even after a whole twelve hours of sleep. So, she decides to give Wayne a free pass, just this once. It's not like missing one day of school will stop her from graduating ( can she graduate if she's technically not a real person? she'll worry about that in her senior year ). Hell, Eddie's missed countless times and he's still well on track to graduate, being in his senior year, and all.

     Sitting on the sofa in the Munson trailer, listening to Wayne's snoring, and desperately trying not to make any noise makes Allison feel like it's last week all over again. She needs something to do, and fast, because if she has to sit here until Eddie comes back home in three hours, she may go crazy.

     She'll go for a walk on her own, she decides, anywhere but Sattler Quarry — which is probably an active crime scene right about now. The shower is quiet enough, Allison thinks, so she creeps away to Eddie's room to find something to change into for after, then slips into the bathroom and shuts the door.

     She doesn't lock it after her. She knows Wayne won't barge in while the water's running.

     Her shower is brisk — she was only allotted three minutes in the Lab and it feels wrong to stay in any longer even now. She dries off and dresses in an oversized sweater and her jeans from Steve's party, still slightly smelling of chlorine.

     Wayne is still snoring by the time Allison exits the bathroom. She creeps over to the kitchen and takes a banana from the sparse fruit bowl, then slips on a pair of shoes and her beanie before leaving the trailer, shutting the door quietly behind her.

She heads up Kerley, just like last night, but keeps to the right side of the road and turns a corner before getting too close to the quarry. Quickly, she identifies it as Lincoln Street — the street that Steve lives on. She recognises some of the houses and the flashy red muscle car in Steve's neighbour's driveway. As she walks, she eats, and repeatedly has to tuck the strands of her hair under her beanie because they keep getting stuck to the banana.

     She walks for a good while, enjoying the feel of the cool late-Fall air filling her lungs, the way it sticks to the insides of her nose and throat on the way down.

     Cold feels real nice for someone so used to heat.

     Allison wanders around for about an hour, weaving through residential streets with few other people around — everyone's off at work or school, save for some housewives and a handful of the elderly. She gets to the border of the town's main square and turns on her heel, not ready to face that just yet. And after she's worn herself out, she heads back to Kerley — to the trailer. Maybe she'll take a stab at cleaning Eddie's room a little, make it easier for him to find his things.

     She's halfway down the road when she processes that something is wrong.

     A white van is parked in the entrance to the park and further down the road, a sleek black car with a smartly dressed woman standing beside it. Allison inches closer, pulling her beanie further over her forehead, and peeks over the fence.

     There are four men in white flame retardant suits, each holding a thermal scanner. Allison knows the sight well — their costumes, the devices. They'd worn those things around her any time she acted out. They'd used those scanners if she tried to hide.

     Luckily, they're not just scanning the Munson trailer. They're hitting every inch of the park. Maybe, just maybe, they're just starting here and plan on checking the entirety of Hawkins. Maybe they haven't found her yet.

     She turns and walks away, head down, doing everything she can to avoid being seen by the woman by the car. When the woman actually does look up, she's a speck in the distance, disappearing around the corner onto Lincoln.

     Though she doesn't think she's being followed — why would they risk blowing their cover by following what could be a random Hawkins resident on an afternoon stroll — she hurries down the street and crosses the threshold of the Harrington property. There are no cars in the driveway, and Steve is almost certainly at school, so she nestles in behind some bushes and peeks her head out intermittently.

     A minute later — nothing.

     Five and the black car slowly peels around the corner. With the pace it's moving at, Allison has ample time to get into a better hiding spot. She rushes to the back gate and clambers over the top, landing in the bushes by the side of the pool. From her time in the Lab, she knows that thermal imaging isn't magic. She'd been able to hide in other rooms before, using their insulated walls as a shield. So, she uses that knowledge — hurrying from the yard all the way to the very back of the Harrington property. She's shielded by at least three separate walls.

     With nothing better to do and Eddie not due to return home for another hour and a half, at least, Allison hunkers down. She remains exactly where she is until the moment she hears a car pulling up in the drive, then she jumps to her feet and books it across the pool deck and into the woods to the left of the house.

     She weaves through the trees until she's almost at the path again, pokes out her head to confirm that the coast is clear of agents, and then steps out. And, with timing so perfect it feels as if it had to have been planned — Eddie's van appears and pulls up beside her. There's a pause as Eddie winds down the window and sticks his head out, his curls falling over his face.

     "What're you doing?" he asks.

     Allison shrugs, playing nonchalant. "Oh, you know. Hiding from the government in Steve Harrington's backyard. The ushe," she replies.

     Eddie furrows his eyebrows, not even totally sure if she's joking. He still has no clue where Allison appeared from or why she's on the run, after all. "Uh, okay," he says, a hint of a laugh there in his voice. "Well, two things. One: Nancy was asking after you, wants you to meet her at school after school... Which is now."

     "Wait, how does Nancy know that you—"

     "Said she saw you getting into my van yesterday."

     Allison nods. Makes sense. "Okay, can you drive me?" Eddie agrees so Allison comes around the other side of the van and hops in. The boy pulls a U-turn in the middle of the street and heads back the way he came. "And, the second thing?"

     This time, Eddie steels himself with a breath. "Cops want to talk to you," he says.

     She freezes, though she tries everything to make her body relax. He said cops. The Lab wouldn't be stupid enough to impersonate cops, would they? "Why?" she asks.

     Eddie shrugs tensely. "Something about Steve's party, I guess. That friend of yours disappeared, didn't she?"

     Barb. Okay, that's fine. They just want to ask about Barb. Allison can answer questions about her.

     The teenagers recount their respective days for the remainder of the drive to Hawkins High School — both of which are mostly uneventful, as Allison leaves out the part about the Lab goons investigating their home. That's way too much to explain right now. Meanwhile, Eddie's day consisted of not paying attention in class and planning some game with his friends. Which checks out, really.

He pulls up in the near empty parking lot and idles in place, bidding Allison farewell before pulling out and returning the way he'd come. Nancy's there, too, hovering in the entryway. She beckons Allison over to her, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"What's going on?" Allison asks, following after Nancy as she immediately speeds through the doors.

"I think I found something," Nancy says. "Come on."

She refuses to elaborate. The girls weave through the halls until they reach the art department, where they stop just outside a room with a sign on the door reading "PHOTOGRAPHY LAB. DO NOT ENTER IF LIGHT IS ON." The light is off, so Nancy pushes the door open and leads Allison through.

Allison has to blink a few times to adjust to the sudden flood of bright, red light. She winces as she reopens them, slowly making out the highlights and shadows of a very apologetic looking Jonathan Byers. "Sorry, forgot how disorienting the light can be."

"No, it's fine," Allison says.

She glances around at the equipment in the room. Throughout her life, she's had the pleasure of seeing quite a bit of different kinds of machinery, but the hunk of metal in the lab is something even she considers foreign. She's someone who has been strapped up to all sorts of computers and gadgets to monitor her vitals while being pushed to the absolute extremes, and yet a simple photo developer is the thing that stumps her. Jonathan turns to face the equipment, fiddling with knobs and dials.

"So, what's going on, exactly?"

Both Nancy and Jonathan open their mouths to explain and both fall silent at the exact same time. They have no idea how to even start.

"My Mom has been swearing up and down that Will isn't dead—" Jonathan begins, turning back to face the girl. Allison wants to say that she saw the boy's body being dragged from the water but keeps quiet. "And she was telling me that some man with no face tried attacking her last night, which, I mean, I obviously thought was insane."

Allison shrugs. "Most men have faces, yeah," she replies.

Nancy holds up a hand. "I was looking at one of the photos Jonathan took at the party and, in the background, I think I saw the same thing. Behind Barb."

Allison nods along slowly. "Okay, that tracks," she says. She looks up at the pair. "So, you think this thing could have done something to Will and Barb?"

The pair nod. "Well, maybe," Jonathan adds. "But, what we're going to try to do is get a closer look at whatever Nancy saw."

He turns back, finishing a final few tasks before he's ready to develop the new print — flicking switches, adjusting dials. Allison and Nancy crowd over his shoulders to watch the process unfold.

"And you're..." Nancy prompts, leaning one elbow on the bench beside him.

Jonathan doesn't take his eyes off the machine. "Brightening. Enlarging," he says. He leans forward to get a closer look at the machinery.

Nancy hums and gives a small nod. "Did your mom say anything else?" she starts. "Like, um, where it might have gone to, or—"

"No, just that it came out of the wall," Jonathan replies.

The machine dings and he rises back to his full height to flick a switch back. He takes the undeveloped photo and submerges it into a tray of clear fluid. Allison shuffles back a few steps to give him more room to work and Jonathan regards her with a tight-lipped smile. He takes the sides of the container in his hands and lightly swishes the liquid back and forth, entirely coating the paper.

"How long does this take? Nancy asks.

"Not long," Jonathan says, keeping his eyes firmly on the picture.

"Have you been... doing this a while?" Nancy asks, keeping the room from falling into complete silence.

Jonathan looks to Nancy over his shoulder. "What?"

"Photography," she elaborates.

Jonathan shrugs. "Yeah. I guess I'd rather observe people than, you know..." he trails off, keeping his head down, hair falling in front of his eyes.

"Talk to them?" Nancy supplies.

"I know. It's weird," Jonathan says.

"No!" Nancy protests.

He shakes his head. "No, it is. It's just sometimes people don't really say what they're really thinking. But, you capture the right moment — it says more."

"What was I saying?" Nancy asks.

Jonathan stammers for something to say. "What?"

"When you took my picture," she presses.

The boy looks down at the ground, ashamed.  "I shouldn't have taken that," he says. He gestures weakly at Nancy. "Of you — of either of you," he corrects himself, looking sheepishly at Allison as well. "I'm sorry."

Allison shrugs. "It's not all on you. I should've been more careful," she says, looking down at her hands — her fingers tapping rhythmically on the bench top. "I mean, the photos were creepy but I did put myself into that mess."

Nancy opens her mouth, wanting to find out more about the picture — of the fire — but she catches sight of the developed photo in the container. Her slight smile drops, her shoulders straighten out. "That's it. That's what I saw."

The photo comes into focus in mere seconds. A tall, skeletal creature, with muscles pulled taught across its chest and absolutely no face. Just slabs of flesh layered over one another.

Jonathan lets out a gasp. "My mom... I thought she was crazy 'cause she said that's not Will's body. That he's alive."

"And if he's alive—"

"—then Barbara."

Allison stops listening to the two as she steps closer to the photo, squeezing in beside Jonathan. Her head is tilted to the side, brows pulled together, lips parted. This thing, tall and grotesque and so completely foreign, feels so strangely familiar to her.

Maybe she'd seen it standing behind Barb, but it had been such a brief moment that she hadn't been able to truly process what she'd witnessed.

Maybe she'd seen it in a dream?

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a/n:
guys be like "i know a spot" and take you to watch a dead body being fished out of a lake.

fun fact: this chapter was originally when eddie and wayne found out about allison's powers. not anymore, that reveal will be way cooler later on and i'm super excited to write it already.

i absolutely loved writing the dark room scene years ago and i loved rewriting it just now. it's just a nice little moment, i think.

anyway it's 5am, my new year's resolution to fix my sleep schedule is NOT going well, GOODNIGHT everybody luv u <3

published: september 17, 2022
re-published: january 9, 2025
word count: 3.3k